PM Narendra Modi is likely to stop by at Herat in northwest Afghanistan en route to Doha to inaugurate the Salma Dam built with India’s assistance.

PM Narendra Modi is likely to stop by at Herat in northwest Afghanistan en route to Doha to inaugurate the Salma Dam built with India’s assistance.

NEW DELHI: It will not just be Qatar and the USA that will keep Narendra Modi busy in the early part of June, the prime minister is likely to stop by at Herat in northwest Afghanistan en route to Doha to inaugurate the Salma Dam built with India’s assistance.

This will be Modi’s second trip to the landlocked country in six months in what’s being viewed as strengthening of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s position amid rising Taliban attacks.

Last December, Modi visited Kabul on his way back from Moscow and had inaugurated the Parliament building, built with India’s support besides handing over military helicopters to the Afghan Army.

Coming close on the heels of the agreements to operationalise the Chabahar Port in Iran, inauguration of the Salma Dam will be a stamp of India’s presence in Afghanistan where Indian projects have constantly been targeted by the Taliban and pro-ISI terror groups. Both Chabahar and Salma Dam have long been in the making since the days of the AB Vajpayee government.

Chabahar will be India’s gateway to landlocked Afghanistan, Central Asia, Russia and beyond in the absence of transit rights through Pakistan.

India is also investing $500 million at the Chabahar port complex to build jetties and berths besides hydro-carbon downstream project there. It is also building a rail link from Chabahar to Zahedan that will connect the entire Afghan railway network. Ghani had travelled to Tehran on May 23 to launch the India-Iran-Afghan trilateral agreement on the use of Chabahar Port. The Afghan President and the Modi had a separate meeting on the sidelines of the event.

Modi’s visit to Afghanistan has not yet been formally announced keeping in mind the security situation. People familiar with the developments indicated that it will be a short visit.